‘An Uncertain Glory………..’ by Amartya Sen and Jean
Dreze, has evoked immediate responses and generated debate around these
responses , which, according to the authors, was actually the very aim of
writing about the account of persisting inequalities, deprivation and lack of development of human capabilities
in spite of remarkable economic growth in last decade that India
witnessed. “Islands of California in a
sea of Sub-Shaharan Africa,” is how the authors described in the book the
biased growth process making India look like.
The first responses were understandably from economists of equal repute
who questioned the economic soundness of the idea of redistribution before
growth suggested, according to them, by the authors as also the case seemingly
made by the authors that the growth process has not impacted, in the way it
should have, the lives of a bulk of Indians. One economist even went to the
extent of accusing bias in his views because of Sen’s left-leaning thinking.
Well, Sen never mentioned in the book that the
growth has made no impact at all. He has
acknowledged that but, at the same time, draws on empirical evidence to show
gross imbalance in distribution pattern of the fruits of that growth. He agrees that in absolute number, the growth
has improved the lives of millions but that number was still in minority when
compared to the number of Indians who still were deprived of most basic
necessities. He has made his case by giving empirical evidence mentioning
sources from where the authors drew their data. And one doesn’t need to be
left-leaning to state the obvious. And the obvious is that in spite of more
than a decade of impressive GDP growth, the living condition of majority of
Indians is abysmally poor. And that is
the cause of worry and the cause for asking questions as to what ails the
system that perpetrates this skewed process of distribution of gains from
growth.
Unfortunately, the reach of this wonderful work by
Sen and Dreze and ensuing debates around it will remain within elite circles
with a limited shelf life. It will soon be business as usual. There will be millions of Indians who will
continue to toil hard to get their two ends meet with no electricity; who will
continue to have to walk miles for a bucket of water; who will continue to
suffer from preventable diseases because of lack of sanitation; who will
continue to be illiterate because of lack of access to elementary education; who
will continue to have to defecate in open because of absence of toilets in
their households and who will continue to die because of lack of access to
timely healthcare.
It is indeed a failure of the system but not as much
as it is a failure of us as Indians to live up to our responsibilities. We have
become completely apathetic to the plight of our fellow Indians. We have become self-centric, oblivious to
what is happening around us. It has become
our intrinsic character to have scant regards for rule of land. We don’t want to observe basic rules. We want to circumvent all rules and procedures when it
comes to our own comfort and benefit and still blame rampant corruption for our
woes. The notion of self-discipline does not exist in us as society. A police commissioner of Mumbai had very
aptly described during his interaction on how to make Mumbai asking how many in
the audience would stop at a traffic red light if there was no police around? Other
countries which have made impressive progress in living conditions for their
citizens have responsible and participatory citizenry playing crucial role in efficacy
of the delivery by any system that govern them –whether its democratic US or
communist China. We, as citizens, must
put our own behaviour in order. This is not to being more simplistic to a
complex problem but this is a starting pre-requisite if we hope to address abnormal
inequalities which is the other side of glorified Indian story.
“An Uncertain Glory: India and Its Contradictions” provided
that food for thought and that’s why it is very rich reading experience. Please
don’t reduce it to narrow spats of personalities.
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